online lecture 2	video 2
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING
[Piaget's Theory][Processes of Learning] [Piaget and Constructivism][Vygotsky's Theory]

"To give the map to others...is to give the results of an experience, not the experience by which the map was produced and became personally meaningful to the producer....Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at hand, seeking and finding his own solution (not in isolation but in correspondence with the teacher and other pupils) does one learn." John Dewey, How We Think, 1910

Your reading for this lecture was Chapter 2 in the text, Educational Psychology, by Elliott et. al. We expect that you will use the text to develop, review and update your knowledge of theories of learning and teaching, as fits your needs. Your primary learning experiences will also include exploring the concepts in the text and their applications using Internet and World Wide Web resources, including those that are hot links within the lecture.

INTRODUCTION

In this lecture, we will examine two central theories of cognitive and language development, both of which are constructivist theories. We will study the work of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky and ways in which they can be applied to the classroom. We will look in particular at their work in cognitive development; additional information about their related work in language development can be found in the text.

Jean Piaget's work on learning and development focuses on the individual, although not excluding attention to social interaction and its role in learning, and is referred to as a "cognitive constructivist" approach. Lev Vygotsky's work focuses on socio-cultural dimensions of learning and development, emphasizing that individual cognitive processes are continuously embedded in a social and cultural context. It is referred to as a "social constructivist" theory.

These lecture notes are derived in part from the text, Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning 3rd edition by S. Ellioltt, T. Kratochwill, J. LIttlefield, J. Cook and J. Travers (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2000) and from the accompanying Instructor's Course Planner prepared by J. Littlefield.

THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF JEAN PIAGET

Jean Piaget's contributions have been among the most influential in the field of cognitive development of any psychologist of the 20th century. Piaget (1896-1980) was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1896, and was trained as a biologist. He referred to himself as a genetic epistemologist, indicating his interest in the ways in which individuals acquire knowledge and how it changes as they develop. Through the time of his death in 1980, Piaget was an active scholar in the field of cognitive development, maintaining a deep interest in the implications of his research for educating children and adolescents. Among the questions that Piaget's research addresses are the four identified below.

Key Questions Related to Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• How does cognitive development proceed from childhood to adulthood?
• What are the processes by which individuals learn and develop cognitively?
• How do later stages relate to earlier stages of cognitive development?
• What does Piaget's theory have to say about classroom instruction?

The studies that Piaget conducted over many years have shown us that learning proceeds in a series of invariant stages that all individuals pass through in the same order. Piaget emphasized that development through these stages was largely the result of the individual's experience with his environment, placing special emphasis on his experiences with the physical world. The four stages described by Piaget are discussed below. While ages at which they typically occur are given, these need to be understood as only approximations. The process of development depends on an individual child's biological maturation and experiences and different children reach the stages at different ages.

• The sensori-motor stage: Lasting from birth to approximately 24 months, in this stage the child learns about the world primarily through sensory experiences and movement. However, the infant's and toddler's intelligence should not be underestimated: They understand such concepts as causality and reversibility through sensori-motor intelligence, for example, and show us this thorough intentional behavior.
• The pre-operational stage: From 2 to approximately 5 or 6 years of age, the child develops the important skill of using symbols, but is not yet capable of mentally manipulating them in logical order. The symbol systems children develop include using pictures and spoken words to represent objects and ideas, using letters to represent sounds, and then moving a step further and using the written word to represent meaning.
• The concrete operational stage: During this stage, from approximately 6 to 11 or 12 years of age, children become capable of what Piaget refers to as mental operations and of applying logical thought to concrete situations. However, at this stage, children's use of mental operations and their ability to apply logic is effective only if they have concrete, tangible objects to which they can refer (not to verbal statements or to abstract situations).
• The formal operational stage: Beginning at approximately 11 or 12 years of age, this is the period in which the adolescent becomes capable of logical, abstract thinking. During this period, adolescents can imagine all of the possibilities in any situation or problem and are capable of analyzing them to determine which are the best approaches. Their thinking is propositional, and they have the capacity to think about all combinations and possibilities in situations, no matter how abstractly presented.

Piaget's contributions to our understanding of the learning process are as important as his contributions to our understanding of stages of development.

THE PROCESSES OF LEARNING AS DESCRIBED BY PIAGET  

In order to understand the fundamental concepts in Piaget's theory, it is necessary to know that he was a distinguished biologist before turning to the study of cognitive development. He saw many parallels between the ways organisms adapt to the environment using their various biological capabilities, and the ways humans adapt to their environment, particularly using learning as a way to better understand their surroundings.

The two most fundamental concepts in Piaget's theory are those of organization and adaptation. He notes the tendency that we as humans have to organize our world and the ways we construct mental "schemas" or structures to create such organization. These "schemas" or mental structures are what individuals in other fields often refer to as "paradigms" that we use to make sense of the world or a particular situation or field of study.

Piaget describes three processes that are instrumental to our adapting to our environment through learning. They are assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.

1. Assimilation: This is the process through which we use our existing mental structures or schemas to take in new information. We need to have an existing schema (idea, concept) -- prior knowledge to relate to the new information so we can assimilate it. We learn something by connecting new information to something we already know. In order to acquire new ideas or knowledge, we integrate them with and thereby build upon and activate prior knowledge, as in the case of reading.
2. Accommodation: This is the process through which our existing mental structures or schemas change as we take in new information. We revise these existing schema (ideas, concepts) if new information does not fit with them. That is, if we experience something that is new or different, it modifies our existing knowledge. The mental representations we previously had are changed to accommodate the new experience.
3. Equilibration: This refers to internal self-efficacy (self-regulation) -- the balancing that goes on in our minds between assimilation and accommodation. When we start to take in or assimilate new information or experiences, we relate this to what we already know. But, a discrepancy or misfit may occur -- that is, the new knowledge may create disequilibrium, something a bit similar to what another psychologist Leon Festinger refers to as cognitive dissonance. Equilibration is the self-regulatory process through which we balance new experiences with what we already know to achieve a state of equilibrium.

PIAGET AND CONSTRUCTIVISM  

Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a constructivist theory. That is, his view of the growth of human thought is that it occurs through the construction of knowledge by the individual through various experiences. Individuals contribute to these experiences by making sense of them -- that is, by using their mental schema to interpret them, thereby assimilating new information and accommodating their mental structures.

Fundamental to Piaget's constructivism is the notion that knowledge is not something that individuals gain from the outside; rather it is something that they gain through their own active experiences, their own acting on the world physically or mentally to make sense of it. Active engagement in experiences is necessary for cognitive growth to occur. Two instructional principles that follow are that (1) understanding occurs through interactions with the environment and (2) cognitive conflict (disequilibrium) or "puzzlement" is the stimulus for learning.

THE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF LEV VYGOTSKY

In order to understand the influence of Lev Vygotsky's work addressing sociocultural dimensions of learning and development, it is important to know his cultural background. He was born in Russia in 1896 and was educated at Moscow University, where his work focused on educational psychology, developmental psychology and psychopathology. Beginning in the 1970's, considerably after his death in 1934, his work began to be read in the U.S. and to become influential in our understanding of cognitive and language development. The following questions reflect Vygotsky's contributions to our understanding of learning and development.

Central Questions Related to Vygotsky's Work on Learning and Development

• How do different cultures affect the way students learn and the cultural expectations surrounding learning and teaching?
• In what ways do interactions between learners and both (a) other learners and (b) adults support for and assist learning?
• What is the optimal level for presenting new information, concepts or ideas when teaching?
• What is the role of social experience and collaboration in learning?

• The zone of proximal development: Vygotsky believed that learning takes place when children are working within what he called their "zone of proximal development." This refers to an area in which a child or adolescent would have trouble solving a problem alone, but can succeed with help from someone more knowledgeable. One way of thinking about the zone of proximal development is that it is an area of potential significant advances in a child or adolescent's thinking. That is, within this area, a child or adolescent is ready to master new concepts or ideas, but simply needs help in doing so.
• Scaffolding: For Vygotsky, "scaffolding" is the process of providing a child or adolescent with a good deal of support during the time they are learning something. This support is reduced as the learner becomes able to deal with the task independently, resulting in his taking on increasing responsibility for his learning. Support for a learner can take the form of cooperative learning among peers, guidance from adults, well-structured learning environments, or strategies for helping students organize new material and relate it to prior knowledge. Vygotsky particularly emphasized the ways in which adult support and learning among peers could assist children and adolescents to master concepts they could not yet learn alone.
• Sociocultural context of knowledge: Vygotsky emphasized the important role of culture in influencing how individuals learn and think. His thinking has had a significant impact on research demonstrating that cognition is "situated" -- occurs in a context. We have learned from Vygotsky's work that we need especially to understand and respond to the cultural contexts which surround children's knowledge and which significantly affect their expectations about their roles as learners and what Luis Moll refers to as their funds of knowledge. Vygotsky particularly emphasized the role of culture in mediating learning -- that is, in providing the tools (words, conventions, symbols, signs, etc.) through which knowledge is mediated and communicated. This means that learning and knowledge are to a large extent culturally and socially influenced.

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  THE IMPLICATIONS OF VYGOTSKY'S THEORY FOR TEACHING  

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  Examining further the implications of Vygotsky' s research for classroom instruction, we will look again at the zone of proximal development, strategies for scaffolding and the sociocultural dimensions of learning and thinking.

  1. Zone of Proximal Development: Implications for Teaching-- Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development is useful because it enables teachers to consider what a learner can do at a particular time, as well as the "zone" within which they can master new material. In essence, a developmentally appropriate curriculum must take into account more than just a student's current level of functioning. Rather, according to Vygotsky, planning must also encompass activities at the higher levels of the child's learning zone.
  2. Scaffolding: Implications for Teaching--Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding involves social supports for learning. Collaborative learning strategies, in which learners work together in heterogeneous groups to solve problems, are consistent with scaffolding. Scaffolding can include many different approaches, all of which assist the learner in moving from assisted to unassisted success in a task. Examples include graphic organizers, "direct and guide" learning approaches, guided practice, strategies for teaching reading, and other scaffolding approaches useful for all subject areas.
  3. Socio-cultural Dimensions of Learning: Implications for Teaching-- Vygotsky and those influenced by him consider that learning is a culturally and socially mediated process. For teachers, this means that each child brings with him knowledge as well as a conception of learning from his family and cultural background. In order for children to succeed, there need to be connections between the child's in-school learning and these cultural foundations of knowledge.

   

  Focus Area #3: What is the relevance of Vygotsky's theory for your current or future classroom or school?  What are specific ways in which knowing about the zone of proximal development can be used to improve students' learning?  What procedures can be used for scaffolding to support students as they are introduced to advanced concepts, which they might not otherwise be taught?  Recognizing that students develop knowledge and concepts through experiences within their cultures, what can you or your school do to create a "bridge" between their backgrounds and their school experiences?

   

  Summing It All Up  What are three ways you can use the theories in your current or future teaching?  What are the differences between the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky and how do they complement one another?

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[Piaget's Theory][Processes of Learning][Piaget and Constructivism][Vygotsky's Theory] 

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